The Godfather

Virgil Winston:Marketing Guru

Jack LaLanne, the “Godfather of Fitness” celebrated his 95th birthday on September 26th in San Francisco, and on October 27th, the city of Los Angeles honored the fitness guru by declaring “Jack LaLanne Day.” Since so many fit folks populate LA, it seems appropriate for the city to honor the man who was in shape before most of us were born. He opened his first health club in 1936 in the city of Oakland and became famous for having the longest running health and fitness television show in history. I am not a big fan of exercise but I recognize the importance of staying reasonably fit so I suffer through yoga classes, pump a little iron at the gym and have recently begun training for a 5K Run. Yes, I do realize that five kilometers is only 3.125 miles, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right?

I was about to forgo my morning jog in favor of a little more sleep when I came across an article announcing the proclamation of Jack LaLanne Day in Los Angeles. In it, he said, “I feel great. I work out every day for an hour and a half or more. I lift weights, swim. I work out seven days a week. I hate it, but I love the results.” That was enough to get me out of bed and into my running shoes, because if a man who is almost twice my age can exercise for an hour and a half each day, I can certainly spend thirty minutes jogging around the track. What interested me most was that he said he hates working out. I had always assumed that people who exercise all the time actually enjoy the process. It made me feel better about my own dislike of exercise and taught me an important lesson. The thing is, I don’t love every aspect of my job either. I am not always inspired to write and I don’t always feel like traveling to Orlando to speak at the annual Glaucoma conference, but I do it anyway—because it’s good for me.

For some of you, though this is difficult for me to imagine, marketing is not your favorite part of doing business. You see it as necessary but not particularly enjoyable and may be tempted not to focus too much attention on marketing your business. But the simple fact of the matter is if you don’t spend some time and energy promoting your business, you won’t have a business to promote. So, like Jack LaLanne, just do it anyway—because you may not enjoy the process, but you’ll like the results.

In honor of Mr. LaLanne, today’s promotional item is the H-Ball Acrylic Massager—because after all that exercising, a little massage is just the ticket. Until next time, remember, “Not everything that is worth doing is fun but that doesn’t mean you can blow it off.”